Access manager session management strategy

ABSTRACT

Techniques are disclosed for managing session information stored by an access management system. Certain techniques are disclosed for updating session information based characteristics of the session information to be updated. The disclose techniques disclose how session information is updated and the frequency in which the session information is updated. Certain embodiments may enable a decrease in computing performance overhead and/or memory usage overhead caused by managing session information (e.g., performing authentication or determining authorization to access a resource) for a session.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This U.S. Non-provisional application claims the benefit and priority ofU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/245,529, filed on Oct. 23, 2015,entitled “ACCESS MANAGER SESSION MANAGEMENT STRATEGY,” the content ofwhich is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

Generally, the present application relates to data processing. Morespecifically, the application is related to techniques for managingsessions in an access management system.

Modern businesses rely on a variety of applications and systems thatcontrol and generate information that is critical to businessoperations. Different applications often provide different services andinformation, and different users may require access to different levelsof information within each system or application. The level of accessthat users are granted may depend on the role of the user. For example,a manager may need access to certain information about employees thatreport to him, but it may be improper for that manager to access thesame information about those whom he reports to.

Earlier less sophisticated applications incorporated access managementbusiness logic directly into the application code. That is to say, eachapplication would require users to have a separate account, separatepolicy logic, and separate permissions, for example. Furthermore, when auser is authenticated by one of these applications, this authenticationremains unknown to other applications in the enterprise because the factthat authentication with the first application has taken place is notshared. Thus, there is no concept of trust between applications usingdifferent systems for authentication and access control. Engineersquickly realized that having an access management system for eachapplication in an enterprise was much like having a gas station for eachcar, and determined that authentication and access control would be moreefficiently implemented and managed as a shared resource. These sharedresources became known as an access management systems.

Access management systems often use policies and other business logic tomake a determination regarding whether a particular access requestshould be granted to a particular resource. Upon making a determinationthat access should be granted, a token is provided to a client (e.g.,client application at a device) of the requestor. This token is like akey that can be used to open a door that guards restricted data. Forexample, a user may attempt to access a human resources database togather information about certain employees such as salary information.The user's web browser at a client makes a request to the application,which requires authentication. If the web browser does not have a token,the user is asked to log in to the access management system. When theuser is authenticated, the user's browser at the client receives a tokenthat may be used to access the human resources application.

In an enterprise, users (e.g., employees) typically may have access toone or more different systems and applications. Each of these systemsand applications may utilize different access control policies andrequire different credentials (e.g., user names and passwords). A userwanting to access multiple resources protected by an access managementsystem may need to be authenticated by credentials provided to theaccess management system. A successful authentication gives the userauthorization to access the protected resources, based on their assignedaccess privileges.

Upon authentication, the access management system may establish asession (“user session”) to provide the access granted to the protectedresource(s). For a user session, the access management system maymaintain session information at a computing system (e.g., servercomputer) for the user session. The session information maintained byaccess management system may be referred to as a server-side session.The access management system may store session information for theserver-side session that defines the access granted to the user and theconstraints of the session. The session information for a server-sidesession may be mapped to a client which is provided with a token. In theinstance where a SSO session is established, the access managementsystem enforces access for SSO based on the token.

If a user wants to access multiple resources protected the accessmanagement system, the access management system may determine whetherthe user is authenticated to access the multiple resources requested bya user. In some instances, authentication of a user for one resource maysuffice for accessing other resources, otherwise the access managementsystem may request additional credentials from the user. Uponauthentication to access multiple resources, the user may not need tore-authenticate to access additional resources. In such instances, theaccess management system may maintain a single session, such as a singlesign-on session (SSO), that provides a user with access to multipleresources after authentication.

Some access management systems may utilize different storage techniquesto manage (e.g., create, read, update, or delete operations) sessioninformation for a session. Session information may include informationabout the user and the user session for which the user is authenticated.Managing session information may include accessing an identity store toquery information about user. However, once information is accessed fromthe identity store, the access management system may not need to accessthe information for subsequent accesses by the user for the session. Anaccess management system may incur performance overhead from repeatedaccess to the identity store for information that rarely changes.

After authentication of a user to establish a session, an accessmanagement system may update session information for subsequent accessesto a resource. Subsequent accesses may result in determiningauthorization and/or performing additional authentication (e.g., step-upauthentication), either of which cause session information to beupdated.

Updating session information may cause significant performance and/ormemory usage overhead. For example, an access management systemimplemented by a computing system having multiple computing nodes, mayimplement locking techniques, such as distributed locking, to permitsession information to be updated, even if the update is a timestamp. Insome instances, distributed account locking may be performed to updatesession information. The locking technique may cause the accessmanagement system to encounter performance issues to implement lockingwhere storage is shared in a distributed fashion. Based on the number ofattributes and the group memberships that are stored for a user in anidentity store, each session belonging to specific user may beduplicated for the session. If a user's status changes in an identitystore, each of the sessions needs to be identified and deactivated toenable the sessions to be updated. In some instances, sessionaggregation and updates may be performed across computing nodes of anaccess management system.

Where distribute cache is implemented to store session information, thesession information may be evicted from memory and serialized to abackend session database based on cache eviction policy. Updatingsession information that is currently serialized to a database can causehuge performance overhead for the access management system. In someinstances, even when different storage techniques are implemented,session information may be replicated for multiple sessions that existfor a user on multiple clients. Memory may need to be optimized on a persession basis, thereby contributing to memory usage overhead to maintainsession information.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to managing sessions in an accessmanagement system. Specifically, techniques are disclosed for managingsession information stored by an access management system.

Techniques may be implemented, such that the method for managing andstoring session information may by dynamic, changing based on one ormore characteristics of the session. Session information that changesless frequently can be managed through a data store in a distributed,scalable manner optimized for reading and modification. Sessioninformation that changes frequently may be managed by sending thesession information to the client requesting access so that the sessioninformation does not need to be maintained by the access managementsystem. Techniques are disclosed to show how session information isupdated and the frequency in which the session information is updated.Certain embodiments may enable a decrease in computing performanceoverhead and/or memory usage overhead caused by managing sessioninformation (e.g., performing authentication or determiningauthorization to access a resource) for a session according totechniques disclosed herein.

An access management system can improve management of a session (e.g.,server-side session) by storing session information for a session basedon the attributes of the session information. Session information mayinclude, without restriction: 1) authenticated user subject informationobtained from a user identity store (e.g., identifier of the identitystore used for authentication, user identifier, user domain name, userGUID, and group membership for user); 2) list of partners accessed insession; 3) IP Address of the client device; 4) authentication Level; 5)authentication scheme; 6) authentication timestamp; and 7) applicationdomain information for accessed resource. Session information for asession may be designated into two different categories: 1) sessioninformation that does not change often or that rarely changes during anactive session; and 2) session information that changes frequentlyduring an active session.

Session information that does not change often or rarely changes may bestored in highly scalable distributed cache for optimized concurrentreads. The data for the session information can be indexed by anidentity store name and the domain name (DN). Examples of sessioninformation that does not change often may include information about theauthenticated user subject.

Session information that changes frequently can be stored using avariety of different techniques. Examples of such session informationmay include list of partners accessed in session; Internet protocol (IP)Address of the client device; authentication level; authenticationscheme; authentication timestamp; and application domain information forone or more accessed resources, as indicated above. One technique tostore session information that changes frequently can be to implement ascalable distributed cache optimized for frequent updates.

Another technique for storing session information that changesfrequently can be through a sequence of communications between theclient and the access management system. Using this technique, sessioninformation can be passed to a client via a response. This can beconsidered as a signed access claim. The client would make sure that theinformation is fetched from the device and passed back to the accessmanagement system during subsequent accesses This session informationmust include identity store identifier and DN of the authenticated user.Using this signed access claim, the access management system would beable to determine a server-side session using information in accessclaim and looking up the subject information from distributed cache.During subsequent authorizations there may not be a need to updatesubject information. All the information to be updated may be part ofaccess claim sent by the client. The updated claim may be sent back toclient by the access management system. In this case updating the claimsent by the client and sending the claim back to the client may notcause performance overhead. Since the access management system does notstore session information that is included in the access claim, theaccess management system may not need to implement distributed locking,which may contribute to performance overhead.

In the techniques described above for storing frequently changingsession information, the sessions may be referring to subjectinformation, which can be retrieved from cache or from user identitystore. Even if same user logs-in from different clients/devices, onlysingle subject information may be available in the cache; which will beshared by all sessions of same user. Also this same identity storeinformation and user DN may be part of all the access claims for a user.With the approaches described above, session information may not bestored per session for a unique user. There may be only a single entryfor all the sessions created for same user. If server-side session usagetracking is required, then a session-per-user login can be created whichwould refer to common subject information. This can reduce theserver-side session footprint to great extent and optimize memoryutilization of the access management system. If the user account islocked, the session information may be updated in user identity store.At the same time only a single entry in the cache may be invalidated ifit exists. All the sessions for the same user may be invalidatedautomatically.

In some embodiments, an access management system may include a computersystem that is configured to implement methods and operations disclosedherein. A computer system may include one or more processors and one ormore memory accessible to the one or more processors and storing one ormore instructions which, upon execution by the one or more processors,causes the one or more processors to implement methods and/or operationsdisclosed herein. Yet other embodiments relate to systems andmachine-readable tangible storage media which employ or storeinstructions for methods and operations disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, a method may include receiving, from a device, afirst request by a user to access one or more resources at the device.The method may include, using information about the user obtained froman identity data store and based on authentication of the user foraccess to one or more resources, establishing a session for the user ofthe device to access one or more resources, wherein session informationis generated for one or more attributes of the session. The method mayinclude storing information about the user in a data store of the accessmanagement system, where the information is associated with anidentifier, and wherein the information includes user accessinformation. The method may include sending, to the device, a responseabout the session that is established, where the response includes thesession information, the identifier, and the user access information.The method may include receiving, from the device, a second request foraccess to a resource, the request including the session information, theidentifier, and the user access information. The method may includeaccessing, from the data store, based on the identifier and the useraccess information, the information about the user. The method mayinclude determining, based on the session information and theinformation accessed from the data store, the session established forthe user. The method may include based on authorization of the user toaccess the resource, providing the user at the device with access to theresource based on the determined session. The method may includeupdating the session information based on the access to the resourceusing the session. The method may include sending, by the computersystem, the updated session information to the device.

In some embodiments, the session information includes one or more of alist of partners accessed in session, an Internet protocol (IP) addressof the device, an authentication level of the session, an authenticationscheme of the session, an authentication timestamp of the session, orapplication domain information for one or more resources accessed duringthe session.

In some embodiments, the data store is implemented as a cache accessiblein a distributed manner to the access management system.

In some embodiments, the response includes an access token, and whereinthe request includes the access token sent in the response to thedevice.

In some embodiments, information about the user includes user identityinformation.

In some embodiments, the identifier indicates an identification of thedata store, and the user access information includes a domain name ofthe user.

In some embodiments, the method includes based on the informationaccessed about the user, determining that access by the session islocked; and denying the user at the device with access to the resourcebased on the determined session.

In some embodiments, the request is a first request, the session is afirst session, the device is a first device, the session information isfirst session information. The method may include: establishing a secondsession for the user to access the resource at a second device; sending,to the second device, a response about the second session that isestablished, where the response includes second session information, theidentifier, and the user access information; receiving, from the seconddevice, a second request for access to the resource, the requestincluding the second session information, the identifier, and the useraccess information; accessing, from the data store, based on theidentifier and the user access information in the second request, theinformation about the user; determining, based on the second sessioninformation and the information accessed from the data store, the secondsession established for the user; based on authorization of the user toaccess the resource, providing the user at the second device with accessto the resource based on the determined second session; updating thesecond session information based on the access to the resource using thesecond session; and sending, by the computer system, the updated secondsession information to the second device. In some embodiments, themethod may include determining, based on the information about the user,that access by the second session is locked; and denying the user at thesecond device with access to the resource based on the determined secondsession.

In some embodiments, the request is a first request, and the resource isa first resource. The method may include; receiving, a second request bythe user at the device to access a second resource, the second requestincluding the session information, the identifier, and the user accessinformation; accessing, from the data store, based on the identifier andthe user access information in the second request, the information aboutthe user; determining, based on the session information and theinformation accessed from the data store, the session established forthe user; based on authorization of the user to access the secondresource, providing the user at the device with access to the secondresource based on the determined session; updating the sessioninformation based on the access to the second resource using thesession; and sending, by the computer system, to the device, the updatedsession information based on the access to the second resource. In someembodiments, the method may include determining that access to thesecond resource is based on additional authentication of the user, wherethe session information is updated for the second resource to indicatethe additional authentication.

The foregoing, together with other features and embodiments will becomemore apparent upon referring to the following specification, claims, andaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure are described indetail below with reference to the following drawing figures:

FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level diagram of a system for managing sessioninformation, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate sequence diagrams processes for managingsession information, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a process for managing sessioninformation, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system forimplementing an embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of one or more componentsof a system environment in which services may be offered as cloudservices, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary computer system that may be used toimplement an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments of the disclosure. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Forexample, circuits, systems, algorithms, structures, techniques,networks, processes, and other components may be shown as components inblock diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments inunnecessary detail. The figures and description are not intended to berestrictive.

The present disclosure relates generally to providing single sign-on(SSO) access. A SSO session may provide a user with access to one ormore systems after authentication of credential information (e.g., ausername and a password). Access to a system may provide access to oneor more resources. Resources may include any item managed and/or storedby a computing system, such as an application, a document, a file,electronic content, and/or the like. A resource may be identified by auniform resource locator (URL) or other data indicating a source of theresource.

I. High-Level Overview of Access Management System for Managing Sessions

Some embodiments, such as systems, methods, and machine-readable mediaare disclosed for managing session information. FIG. 1 illustrates asystem 100 in which session information can be stored such that memoryand performance usage may be minimized, thereby reducing the time formanaging sessions across multiple clients (e.g., applications anddevices).

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 in which a user (e.g., user 102)operating multiple clients (e.g., an application on a device or adevice). User may operate a first client (e.g., device 104 orapplication 106 executing on device 104) to request access to resources.A user may operate a second client (e.g., device 114 or application 116executing on device 114) Authentication of a user with access managementsystem 140 and authorization of the user to access specific resources,may be managed by access management system 140. In some embodiments,access management system 140 may include a session engine 142 thatmanages authentication of a user and one or more sessions created toenable access for the user. Access management system 140 may include anauthorization engine 144 to determine authorization of a user to accessparticular resources.

For purposes of illustration, “session” as described herein includes anSSO session; however, a session may include other types of sessionsenabling access to a user. Access management system 140 may provideaccess to one or more resources. Access management system 140 mayimplement a sign-on system, e.g., a SSO system, which can establish anSSO session to provide SSO access to one or more resources.

Access management system 140 may store session information for eachsession created to enable a user with access. Session information mayinclude, without restriction, 1) authenticated user subject informationsuch as user identity information (e.g., user identifier, user domainname, user group user identification (GUID), and group membership foruser); 2) list of partners accessed in session; 3) Internet protocol(IP) address of a client; 4) authentication level; 5) authenticationscheme; 6) authentication timestamp; and 7) application domaininformation for one or more resources that are accessed. Accessmanagement system 140 may employ a variety of techniques disclosed herein for management of session information for each session.

Resources may include, without restriction, a file, a web page, adocument, web content, a computing resource, or an application. Forexample, system 100 may include resources such as applications 120and/or content accessible through those applications 120. A resource maybe requested and accessed using an application. For example, anapplication may request access to a web page from a resource serverbased on a URL identifying a requested resource. Resources may beprovided by one or more computing systems, e.g., a resource computerserver that provides access to one or more resources upon authenticationof user 102 in a SSO system. Although a user may be authenticated withaccess, each user may have different rights to access differentresources. As such, authorization may be determined for each resource.Authorization may be determined for each resource server that provides aresource.

User 102 operating a client device, e.g., device 104 or device 114, maypresent one or more interfaces that accept input to enable a user tointeract with an access management system (e.g., access managementsystem 140). The interfaces may be accessible using an application(e.g., application 106 or application 116) executing on a device. Theapplication and/or interfaces may be provided by access managementsystem 140 as part of a service.

Each of device 104 and device 114 may include a computing device. Thecomputing device may include a computing system such as one or morecomputers and/or servers (e.g., one or more access manager servers),which may be general purpose computers, specialized server computers(including, by way of example, PC servers, UNIX servers, mid-rangeservers, mainframe computers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms,server clusters, distributed servers, or any other appropriatearrangement and/or combination thereof. Device 104 and device 114 mayrun any of operating systems or a variety of additional serverapplications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP servers, FTPservers, CGI servers, Java servers, database servers, and the like.Exemplary database servers include without limitation those commerciallyavailable from Oracle, Microsoft, and the like. Devices 104, 114 may beimplemented using hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof.

Each of devices 104, 114 may include at least one memory, one or moreprocessing units (or processor(s)), and storage. The processing unit(s)may be implemented as appropriate in hardware, computer-executableinstructions, firmware, or combinations thereof. In some embodiments,access management system 140 may include several subsystems and/ormodules. Devices 104, 114 may be implemented to operate using inhardware, software (e.g., program code, instructions executable by aprocessor) executing on hardware, or combinations thereof. In someembodiments, the software may be stored in a memory (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable medium), on a memory device, or someother physical memory and may be executed by one or more processingunits (e.g., one or more processors, one or more processor cores, one ormore GPUs, etc.). Computer-executable instructions or firmwareimplementations of the processing unit(s) may includecomputer-executable or machine-executable instructions written in anysuitable programming language to perform the various operations,functions, methods, and/or processes described herein. The memory maystore program instructions that are loadable and executable on theprocessing unit(s), as well as data generated during the execution ofthese programs. The memory may be volatile (such as random access memory(RAM)) and/or non-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flashmemory, etc.). The memory may be implemented using any type ofpersistent storage device, such as computer-readable storage media. Insome embodiments, computer-readable storage media may be configured toprotect a computer from an electronic communication containing maliciouscode. The computer-readable storage media may include instructionsstored thereon, that when executed on a processor, perform theoperations described herein.

Access management system 140 may be implemented by a computing system.The computing system may include one or more computers and/or servers(e.g., one or more access manager servers), which may be general purposecomputers, specialized server computers (including, by way of example,PC servers, UNIX servers, mid-range servers, mainframe computers,rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms, server clusters, distributedservers, or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combinationthereof. Access management system 140 may run any of operating systemsor a variety of additional server applications and/or mid-tierapplications, including HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, Javaservers, database servers, and the like. Exemplary database serversinclude without limitation those commercially available from Oracle,Microsoft, and the like. Access management system 140 may be implementedusing hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof.

In some embodiments, access management system 140 may be implemented bymultiple computing devices (e.g., server computers) deployed as acluster. Each of the server computers in the cluster may be a differentcomputing node, which may communicate with one or more clients. Eachcomputing node may handle authentication and authorization for sessionmanagement. The cluster may be deployed as part of a data center, whichallows for scalability and high availability. Multiple suchgeographically dispersed data centers with access manager serverclusters can be connected (wired or wirelessly) to constitute amulti-data center (MDC) system. An MDC system may satisfy highavailability, load distribution, and disaster recovery requirements ofaccess servers within an enterprise computer network. An MDC system mayact as a single logical access server to support SSO services for accessmanagement system 140.

Access management system 140 may include at least one memory, one ormore processing units (or processor(s)), and storage. The processingunit(s) may be implemented as appropriate in hardware,computer-executable instructions, firmware, or combinations thereof. Insome embodiments, access management system 140 may include severalsubsystems and/or modules. For example, access management system 140 mayinclude session engine 142 and authorization engine 144, each of whichmay be implemented in hardware, software (e.g., program code,instructions executable by a processor) executing on hardware, orcombinations thereof. In some embodiments, the software may be stored ina memory (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable medium), on a memorydevice, or some other physical memory and may be executed by one or moreprocessing units (e.g., one or more processors, one or more processorcores, one or more GPUs, etc.). Computer-executable instructions orfirmware implementations of the processing unit(s) may includecomputer-executable or machine-executable instructions written in anysuitable programming language to perform the various operations,functions, methods, and/or processes described herein. The memory maystore program instructions that are loadable and executable on theprocessing unit(s), as well as data generated during the execution ofthese programs. The memory may be volatile (such as random access memory(RAM)) and/or non-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flashmemory, etc.). The memory may be implemented using any type ofpersistent storage device, such as computer-readable storage media. Insome embodiments, computer-readable storage media may be configured toprotect a computer from an electronic communication containing maliciouscode. The computer-readable storage media may include instructionsstored thereon, that when executed on a processor, perform theoperations described herein.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which user 102 can engage in communicationwith access management system 140 to access resources, such as any oneof applications 120 or the resources accessible through applications120. Applications 120 may be accessible to user 102 upon successfulauthentication of credential information for user 102. Before one ofapplications 120 is accessible to user 102 at device 104, user 102 maybe authenticated for a session that provides user 102 with access toapplications 120. Device 104 may initiate an authentication process byrequesting access from access management system 140. The authenticationprocess may include device 104 displaying one or more GUIs to receivecredential information of a user and submitting a request forauthentication to access management system 140. Authentication may beestablished based on verifying credential information of the user 102.

In attempting to access an application, user 102 may operate anapplication (e.g., application 106) that manages access to a user'saccount via access management system 140. For example, application 106is an access management application that may present GUIs. Usingapplication 106, user 102 may request access to one or more resources,engage in authentication, and request modification of an authenticationlevel. Client devices 104, 114 may communicate with access managementsystem 140 via one or more communication networks 170, 130,respectively. Examples of communication networks may include a mobilenetwork, a wireless network, a cellular network, a local area network(LAN), a wide area network (WAN), other wireless communication networks,or combinations thereof.

Communications between device 104 and access management system 140 canbe received through a gateway system. The gateway system may supportaccess management services. For example, a single sign-on (SSO) gatewaymay implement one or more access agents, e.g., a web gate agent, tobalance and/or handle requests from clients and access management system140.

Resources (e.g., applications 120) may be accessible to user 102 basedon successful authentication of credential information. Upon receivingthe credential information, session engine 142 may verify whether arequested resource, e.g., application 106, is a protected resource thatrequires credentials for access. Session engine 142 may requestauthorization engine 144 to determine whether access to a resource isprotected. Upon determining that access determines that the resource isnot protected, session engine 142 may grant access to a resource. Upondetermining that access to a resource is protected, session engine 142may determine authentication of user 102 based on the credentialinformation. Upon determining authentication of user 102, authorizationengine 144 may determine whether user 102 is authorized to access aresource based on access permitted to user 102. Session engine 142 maysend a communication to device 104 to indicate whether access to aresource is permitted by user 102. Application 106 may be enabled touser 102 based on whether access is permitted.

Access management system 140 may provide many SSO services includingmanagement of access (e.g., granting/denying access) to resources,automatic sign-on, application password change and reset, sessionmanagement, application credential provisioning, as well asauthentication of a session. In some embodiments, access managementsystem 140 can provide automatic single sign-on functionality forapplications 120, such as Windows® applications, Web application, Java®applications, and mainframe/terminal-based applications running or beingaccessed from client devices. As explained above, access managementsystem 120 may perform authentication of a user (e.g., user 102)operating a client device (e.g., device 104).

In some embodiments, access management system 140 may use one or morepolicies stored in a data store 180 (“policies”) to control access toresources. Policies 180 may include an authentication policy thatspecifies the authentication methodology to be used for authenticatingthe user for whom the access must be provided on a given resource.Policies 180 may include an access policy that defines the way in whichthe resource access is to be protected (e.g., type of encryption, or thelike). Policies 180 may include an authorization policy that specifiesthe conditions under which a user or group of users has access to aresource. For example, an administrator may only authorize certain userswithin a group to access particular resources. Access management system140 may determine authentication for an SSO session based on one or moreof policies 180.

Access management system 140 may also include or be coupled toadditional storage, which may be implemented using any type ofpersistent storage device, such as a memory storage device or othernon-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In some embodiments,local storage may include or implement one or more databases (e.g., adocument database, a relational database, or other type of database),one or more file stores, one or more file systems, or combinationsthereof. For example, access management system 140 is coupled to orincludes one or more data stores for storing data such as identity datastore 150, session data cache 160 and policies 180. The memory and theadditional storage are all examples of computer-readable storage media.For example, computer-readable storage media may include volatile ornon-volatile, removable or non-removable media implemented in any methodor technology for storage of information such as computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.

Session engine 142 may handle processing to determine whether a validsession exists for user 102 to access a resource. Access managementsystem 140 may store session data in session data cache 160. In someembodiments, the rarely changing information (e.g., subject information)may be stored in session data cache 160. The subject information may beobtained from an identity data store 150. Session information thatchanges frequently may be sent to a client device for storage andreceived in communication from the client device. Session engine 142checks for a valid session for user 102 to access a requested resourcethat is protected. Session engine 142 may assess validity of a sessionfor user 102 based on consideration of one or more access policiesapplicable to user 102. Based on determining that a valid session doesnot exist for user 102, session engine 102 may request 108 credentialinformation (“credentials”) from user 102. Successful authentication ofthe credential information may provide the user with access to one ormore resources, which may include a requested resource.

Requests may be communicated to device 104 via communication network170. A request may prompt user 102 for user credentials to determineauthentication of a session. Request may include information (e.g., aURL) to a web page or a user interface (e.g., a web page, portal, ordashboard) to receive credential information.

Session engine 142 may perform operations to authenticate credentialinformation for user 102. In some embodiments, session engine 142 maystore information about sessions established upon successfulauthentication of a user. For a SSO session (e.g., SSO authenticatedsessions), the SSO session may be managed as a SSO session enablingaccess to all resources accessible to user based upon successfulauthentication of credential information for a user.

In some embodiments, session engine 142 may communicate withauthorization engine 144 regarding the scope of authentication. Sessionengine 142 can send the scope information received from device 104 toauthorization engine 144. Authorization engine 144 can determineresources that are protected and based on authentication sessions, candetermine resources that are permitted and/or restricted for a session.

In some embodiments, access management system 140 may be implemented insystem 100 according to an agent-server model for communication betweendevice 104 and any one of access manager servers implemented for accessmanagement system 140. The agent-server model may include an agentcomponent (e.g., a gateway system) and a server component. The agentcomponent may be deployed on a host system and the server component maybe deployed on a server, e.g., an access manager server. User 102operating device 104 may communicate with access management system 140via agent using an enterprise computer network. In some embodiments, theagent may be an application or embedded in an application on device 104.Device 104 may be a workstation, personal computer (PC), laptopcomputer, smart phone, wearable computer, or other networked electronicdevice.

Agent may provide access control and may operate to protect accessmanagement system 140 and any resources accessible through accessmanagement system 140 against external and internal web-based threats.Access management system 140 may communicate with one or more resourcecomputing systems (e.g., resource servers) that provide access to one ormore resources, e.g., applications 120. Agent may implement or operateas the agent component access management system 140 and may include aserver that operates as the server component. Each resource accessibleby access management system 140 may be protected through an agent, e.g.,agent. Agent may intercept user requests for one or more resourcesprotected by it and check for user credentials in order to authenticatethe user. The agent may then contact a server, e.g., an access managerserver at access management system 140. The access management server mayverify whether a resource is a protected resource that requirescredentials for access. If the access management server determines thatthe resource is not protected, agent may grant access to user 102. Ifthe resource is protected, agent may request user 102 to provideauthentication credentials.

In some embodiments, communication between agent and access managementsystem 140 may be split into two different channels of communication.For example, communication via a front-channel may use a hypertexttransfer protocol secure (HTTPS) protocol. Front-channel communicationsmay include less frequent communications, such as communications forcredential collection operations for authentication. Communication via aback-channel may use an open access protocol (OAP). Back-channelcommunications may include more frequent communications, such asagent-server interactions including requests for access to a resourcemanaged by access management system 140. Each channel may communicateusing an access token designed for the type of communication over thechannel. The access flow may generate two types of browser tokens. Afirst token is an access management ID token (e.g., OAM_ID token), whichserves the SSO requests that are being propagated over HTTP. A secondtoken is an authorization token (e.g., OAMAuthn Token) that may be usedto server the SSO requests that are being propagated over OAP. Thebrowser tokens may be stored as host cookies at device 104.

Access management system 140 (e.g., using agent) may present user 102with a request for authentication credentials in the form of a challenge(e.g., via the user's web browser at device 104). In some embodiments,user 102 can access SSO user interface through a client executing ondevice 104 or through a web browser on device 104. The SSO userinterface may be implemented at access management system 140. Accessmanagement system 140 may send, with request 108, the SSO user interfaceor information (e.g., a URL) enabling access to the SSO user interface.

In some embodiments, an SSO user interface can include a list of theapplications user 102 commonly utilizes. User 102 can manage theircredentials and policies associated with applications through the SSOuser interface. When user 102 requests to access an application, e.g.,application 140, through the SSO user interface, a request may be sentfrom device 104 to access management system 140 to determine a policytype for the application from one or more policies 160 applicable touser 102. Access management system 140 may determine whether a validsession exists for the user and if so, then it can determine user's 102credential information based on the policy type.

In some embodiments, the request may include an authentication cookiefrom a previous login that can be used to determine whether user 102 isauthorized to retrieve the credential. If authorized, the user can belogged into the application using the credential. In some embodiments,agent can enable users to access applications 120 using SSO servicesprovided by access management system. Access may be provided through aweb browser directly, without first accessing the SSO user interface orusing a client executing on device 104. If user 102 is not authorized,then access management system may request 108 credentials from user 102.The SSO user interface may present an interface to receive inputincluding credential information. The credential information may be sent110 to access management system 140 to determine authentication of user102.

In some embodiments, credential types can be supported, such as OracleAccess Management protected resources, federated applications/resources,and form-fill applications. Examples of credential types may include aSmartcard/Proximity card, a token, a public key infrastructure (PKI), aWindows Logon, a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) logon, abiometric input, or the like. For OAM protected resources, user requestscan be authenticated and then directed to URLs associated with therequested resources. For Federated Applications, links to federatedpartners and resources can be provided, including business to business(B2B) partner applications and SaaS applications. For form fillapplications, templates can be used to identify fields of applicationweb pages through which credentials can be submitted.

II. Processes for Session Management

Access management system 140 can improve computing performance formanagement of session information by changing the way sessioninformation is stored. For example, for a user that authenticates frommultiple clients, access management system 140 can optimize storagemanagement and reduce processing by managing session information.Specific details about a session that change frequently may be managedindividually for each session created for each user authenticated at adifferent client. Session information that is common, or shared betweensessions created for a user at different clients may be storedcentrally, in a distributed cache, where storage is abundant and theeffects of delays caused by accessing the storage can be minimized.

The following operations in FIGS. 2-4 illustrate various exemplaryembodiments by which access management system 140 can manage sessioninformation. Session information may be managed using the techniquesdisclosed herein to minimize computer performance issues for managingdata about sessions. With the growth in mobile devices, users areincreasingly accessing resources from many devices at any given time.The cost of computer resources may be too great for managing sessioninformation for multiple sessions across thousands of users.

In some embodiments, such as those described with reference to FIGS.2-4, may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, aflow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, a sequencediagram, or a block diagram. Although a sequence diagram or a flowchartmay describe the operations as a sequential process, many of theoperations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition,the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminatedwhen its operations are completed, but could have additional steps notincluded in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function,a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination may correspond to a return of thefunction to the calling function or the main function.

The processes depicted herein, such as those described with reference toFIGS. 2 and 3, may be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions,program) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processorscores), hardware, or combinations thereof. The software may be stored ina memory (e.g., on a memory device, on a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, the processesdepicted in flowcharts herein can be implemented by a computing systemof an access management system, e.g., access management system 140 ofFIG. 1. The particular series of processing steps in this disclosure arenot intended to be limiting. Other sequences of steps may also beperformed according to alternative embodiments. For example, alternativeembodiments of the present disclosure may perform the steps outlinedabove in a different order. Moreover, the individual steps illustratedin the figures may include multiple sub-steps that may be performed invarious sequences as appropriate to the individual step. Whileprocessing depicted in FIGS. 2-4 may be described with respect toaccessing a single session by a user from multiple clients, suchprocessing may be performed for multiple sessions, such that sessioninformation may be managed for multiple sessions for multiple users.Processing depicted in FIGS. 2-4 may be described with respect tomultiple sessions, each for which session information may be managed.Furthermore, additional steps may be added or removed depending on theparticular applications. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize many variations, modifications, and alternatives.

In an aspect of some embodiments, each process in FIGS. 2-4 can beperformed by one or more processing units. A processing unit may includeone or more processors, including single core or multicore processors,one or more cores of processors, or combinations thereof. In someembodiments, a processing unit can include one or more special purposeco-processors such as graphics processors, digital signal processors(DSPs), or the like. In some embodiments, some or all of processingunits can be implemented using customized circuits, such as applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), or field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs).

FIG. 2 illustrates a sequence diagram showing operations 200 formanaging session information, in accordance with an embodiment.Specifically, the operations 200 may be performed by some or all of theelements shown with respect to FIG. 1. The examples shown in FIGS. 2 and3 are with respect to a single user operating each of client 202 (e.g.,“client1”), client 204 (e.g., “client2”), and client 206 (e.g.,“client3”). For purposes of explanation, a client in FIGS. 2 and 3 is adevice; however, a client can be a device or an application on a device.

Access management system 140 may store and persist session informationin a distributed storage system. The distributed storage system mayinclude one or more memory devices implemented as a cache for fast readand write operations. In a distributed environment where multiplecomputing devices are distributed as a cluster of computing nodes, eachcorresponding to a computing device, for an access management system,the distributed cache system provides high performance for computingnodes in the cluster.

Access management system 140 may designate session information for asession into two different categories: 1) session information that doesnot change often or that rarely changes during an active session; and 2)session information that changes frequently during an active session.Session information may be designated for management based on one ormore criteria. The criteria may be configurable and adjusted based onassessment of processing performance and/or availability of resources.

To create subject information upon establishing an access session, anidentity store may be accessed for a subject, which may have theattributes of user as well as group membership information of the user.As the subject information changes less frequently, the possibility of achange in the subject information is not likely. Access managementsystem 140 may store subject information in a data store, such as ahighly distributed cache optimized for current reads for multiplesessions. The session information may be stored based on identity storename and a dataset name. During subsequent accesses the subject will beretrieved from session data stored by access management system 140, suchthat access to identity store may not be necessary. Avoiding access tothe identity store can reduce or eliminate querying the identity storeduring subsequent access using an existing session. Information about asubject is an example of information that does not change often. Ifaccess for a user is locked, then the session data stored may be updatedby access management system 140 to indicate that the account is locked.

To minimize perform overhead, access management system 140 may splitsession information into two categories: 1) data in session that doesnot change or changes rarely during the lifetime of a server sidesession; and) data in session that changes frequently during lifetime ofa server side session. Examples of data that does not change or rarelychanges is subject information for a user (e.g., authenticated usersubject information) that may remain status across multiple sessions forthe user. Depending on the category of session data, session data may bestored differently thereby reducing performance overhead for storage andaccess of session data.

Data about a session that changes frequently and may be specific to asession may be stored different than data that does not changefrequently. In some embodiments, session data that changes frequentlycan be stored in scalable, distributed cache that is optimized forfrequent updates. In some embodiments, data that changes frequently canbe managed such that access management system 140 passes it to theclient (e.g., user-agent or device), which can pass the information backto access management system 140 in a request for access. Accessmanagement system, can reconstruct and identify a session based on thedata that is received back from the client.

In some embodiments, rarely changing data may be stored in a highlyscalable, distributed cache. The distributed optimized for distributedreads. In the example shown in FIG. 2, common attributes 240 (e.g.,subject information) may be stored in a highly distributed cache that isaccessible by access management system 140. Common attributes 240 may bestored for a user having multiple access sessions, session 216 (“session1”), session 226 (“session 2”), and session 236 (“session 3”), fromclient 202, client 204, and client 206, respectively. Because commonattributes 222 changes rarely, such information may be accessed oncefrom an identity store and stored locally in distributed cache. Ifaccess for a user is locked, then the cache may be updated by accessmanagement system 140 to indicate that the account is locked for thesubject, thereby minimizing updates for multiple sessions.

Now turning to the example in FIG. 2, a user (“User1”) may operate afirst client 202 (“client1”) to establish a session 216 (“session1”) foraccess. Access management system 140 may manage access to resources fromany one of the clients 202, 204, 206 operated by a user.

At step 210, Client 202 may request access for User1. The request may befor access to one or more resources. At step 212, access managementsystem 140, may determine whether a user was previously authenticatedfor access at a client. If access is managed according to techniques forSSO, then access management system 140 may determine whether the userwas authenticated at any client. Access management system 140 maycommunicate with client 202 to request and obtain credentials toauthenticate User1 if User1 is determined to not be authenticated. User1may not be authenticated upon expiration of access according to one ormore criteria for access management. Upon successful authentication ofUser1, access management system 140 may create session 216 (“session1”).As part of creating the session, access management system 140 may storesession data 218 (“specific attributes”) that includes information, suchas specific attributes about the session. Specific attributes mayinclude information identified as changing frequently, such as list ofpartners accessed in session, IP Address of the client device,authentication level, authentication scheme, authentication timestamp,and application domain information for accessed resources. The specificattributes, such as access timestamp, partner information of a lastaccessed resource, and application domain information for one or moreaccessed resources, may be updated each time User1 requests access(e.g., request authorization for a resource or request authenticationfor a session).

In some embodiments, specific attributes may be stored using a varietyof techniques to improve processing performance for access managementsystem 140, by reducing an amount and type of operations for data thatchanges frequently. For example, access management system 140 mayutilize a distributed, highly scalable cache for frequent updates toreduce the impact of processing based on frequent operations to storeand retrieve. In another example, access management system 140 may limitstorage of session information to information that does not changefrequently, such as common attributes. Access management system 140 canaccess the common attributes when needed for each session. Informationthat changes frequently may be sent to a client with access information(e.g., a token). Session information corresponding to specificattributes may not be stored locally by access management system 140 maybe sent to the client with information (e.g., a token) related to accessfor a session. The information may be an access claim, such that theclient is provided with access based on providing the specificattributes along with the information related to access for a session.

After session1 is created, at step 214, access management system 140 maysend a response (“signed access claim”) including a portion of thesession information, such as specific attributes 218, to client 202. Theresponse may be pre-defined. The signed access claim may include anidentity store identifier and/or a domain name (DN) identifier of theauthenticated user so access management system 140 can retrieve thecommon attributes 240 for a session when needed. Client 202 may storeinformation in the signed access claim locally at client 202 forsubsequent access requests. Client 202, on subsequent requests, can sendthe signed access claim to access management system 140. Accessmanagement system 140, when updating or establishing a new session, canuse the signed access claim to identify common attributes for thesession. The information in the signed access claim may be used toretrieve the common attributes from the common store for the sessions.

After session1 216 is created, User1 may continue to operate client 202to access resources using session1 216. Upon each subsequent access fora resource, client 202 may send access information including a signedaccess claim to utilize the session1 216. Access management system 140may use the signed access claim to recreate the session information forsession 1 216. The specific attributes for the session information maybe recreated based on the signed access claim included in the accessinformation for a subsequent request. The specific attributes may beupdated upon a subsequent access using session1 216. The specificattributes may be sent back to client 202 as a signed access claim withinformation about the request for access. Since the specific attributesmay not be stored by access management system 140, access managementsystem 140 may not incur performance overhead for storing theinformation and distributed locking may not need to be implemented sincethe specific attributes for each session are not stored centrally byaccess management system 140.

After session1 216 is created, User1 may operate a second client 204(“client2”) to establish a session 226 (“session2”) for access. At step220, Client 204 may request access for User1. At step 222, accessmanagement system 140, may upon verification of User1's credentials,create session2 226. Access management system 140 may determineauthentication of User1 for session 2 226 based on a previousauthentication when SSO is implemented. As part of creating the session2226, access management system 140 may store session data 228 (“specificattributes”) that includes information, such as specific attributesabout the session2 226. However, since a previous session (e.g., session216) was created, common attributes 240 for a session have beenretrieved and stored in a distributed cache. To minimize performanceoverhead, access management system 140 may access or reference thecommon attributes 240 to create session2 226. For the new session,session2 226, access management system may determine specific attributes228. Frequently changing session information, such as specificattributes 228, for session2 226 may be stored locally for frequentupdates. At step 224, access management system 140 may send a responseto client 204 (“signed access claim”). The response may include thespecific attributes and the information identifying the commonattributes 240 (e.g., identity store identifier or DN identifier).Similar to session 216, access management system 140 can find commonattributes when client 204 sends the signed access claim with a requestfor access.

After session2 is created, User1 may operate a third client 206(“client3”) to establish a session 236 (“session3”) for access. At step230, Client 206 may request access for User1. At step 232, accessmanagement system 140, may upon verification of User1's credentials,create session3 236. Access management system 140 may determineauthentication of User1 for session 3 236 based on a previousauthentication when SSO is implemented. As part of creating the session3236, access management system 140 may store session data 238 (“specificattributes”) that includes information, such as specific attributesabout the session3 236. However, since a previous session (e.g., session216) was created, common attributes for a session have been retrievedand stored in a distributed cache. To minimize performance overhead,access management system 140 may access or reference the commonattributes 240 to create session3 236. Frequently changing sessioninformation, such as specific attributes 238, for session3 236 may bestored locally for frequent updates. At step 234, access managementsystem 140 may send a response to client 206 (“signed access claim”).The response may include the specific attributes 238. Similar to session216 and session2 226, access management system 140 can find commonattributes when client 206 sends the signed access claim with a requestfor access.

With this approach, there is common information may not be stored persession for a unique user. Access management system 140 may limitstorage of session information to a single instance regardless of thenumber of sessions created for the same user across one or more clients.If server side session usage tracking is required, then a minimalistsession per user login can be created which would refer to commonsubject information. This will reduce the storage and access footprintat access management system 140 to a great extent and optimize memoryutilization of access management system 140. The frequently changingsession information may not need to be stored locally and can instead beobtained from a signed access claim, which can be used to reconstruct asession in combination with the common attributes 240.

Now turning to FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing operations 300 formanaging session information, in accordance with an embodiment. FIG. 3shows how access management system 140 can manage session information toreduce memory storage and minimize storage footprint for multiplesessions, especially, in a distributed computing environment. Elementsin FIG. 3 may be referenced from figures in this disclosure.

The example shown in FIG. 3 continues from the examples in FIG. 2. Atstep 302, client 202 may request access to a resource via an accessmanagement system 140. The request may include an access claim that wassent to the client previously after a previous access (e.g., when asession was established). An access claim may include sessioninformation that changes frequently such as disclosed above. An accessclaim may include an identifier of a data store including subjectinformation about a user. An access claim may include user accessinformation (e.g., a domain name of a user) that is part of sessioninformation that does not change frequently. At step 304, accessmanagement system 140 may determine whether a session was established.The access claim may be used to reconstruct session information for asession. Access management system 140 may access a distributed cachewhere rarely changing subject information is stored. Using theidentifier in the access claim, access management system 140 mayidentify subject information from the cache. The session may bereconstructed using the session information in the access claim.

When a session does not exist for a resource, access management system140 may establish a session based on the subject information. A newaccess claim may be created for the session.

Access management system 140 may update the session information in theaccess claim upon accessing a resource for the session. The sessioninformation may also be updated if the access management system 140requests credential information from client 202 for reauthentication orstep-up authentication. The updated session information may be updatedto the access claim.

In some embodiments, if access is locked for a user, the subjectinformation in the cache may be updated to indicate that access islocked. Upon subsequent requests for access, the subject information mayindicate that the access is locked such that no client can obtain accessuntil the account is unlocked. When the account is unlocked, the cachemay be updated for the subject information. Thus, a single source of thesubject information reduces overhead in distributed locking or delays inaccess concurrently for different clients.

At step 306, access management system 140 may send the updated accessclaim or a new access claim to client 202 for storage. In this caseupdating the access claim and sending it back to the client 202 may notcause any performance overhead since distributed locking may not beused.

Similarly, at step 312, client 204 may request access to a resource. Therequest may include an access claim sent from access management system140 to client 204 for a previous access. As explained above for step304, at step 314, access management system may use the access claim toobtain the subject information from the cache. All the sessions will bereferring to subject information which can be retrieved from cache. Evenif same user logs-in from different clients/devices, only single subjectinformation will be available in the cache; which will be shared by allsessions of same user. Also this same identity store information anduser DN will be part of all the access claims for a user.

Access management system 140 can determine session status based on theaccess claim. Access management system 140 can determine whether theaccount of the user is locked based on the subject information. Ifnecessary, access management system 140 can determine the session basedon the access claim, and if necessary establish a new session. Accessmanagement can determine authorization and whether additionalcredentials are necessary. The access claim can be updated based on thesession activity.

At step 316, access management system can send a response including theaccess claim with updates to the session information.

Now turning to FIG. 4, is a flowchart 400 of a process for managingsession information according to some embodiments. Flowchart 400 may beimplemented by access management system 140 of FIG. 1.

Flowchart 400 may begin at step 402 by receiving a request by a user toaccess one or more resources at the device. At step 404, information(e.g., subject information) about the user is obtained from a data storeof an access management system. The data store can be implemented as acache accessible in a distributed manner to the access managementsystem. The information may include user identity information. The useridentify information may include user access information such as adomain name of the user.

At step 406, authentication of the user to access one or more resourcesmay be determined. At step 408, using information about the userobtained from an identity data store and based on authentication of theuser for access to one or more resources, a session for a user of adevice is established to access one or more resources. The sessioninformation is generated for one or more attributes of the session. Thesession information may include a list of partners accessed in session,an Internet protocol (IP) address of the device, an authentication levelof the session, an authentication scheme of the session, anauthentication timestamp of the session, application domain informationfor one or more accessed resources using the session, or combinationsthereof.

At step 410, information about the user is stored in a data store of theaccess management system. The information is associated with anidentifier. At step 412, a response about the session that isestablished is sent to the device. The response includes the sessioninformation, the identifier, and the user access information. Theidentifier may indicate an identification of the data store. Theresponse may include an access token generated to enable access to thesession. At step 414, a request for access to a resource is receivedfrom the device. The request includes the session information, theidentifier, and the user access information. The request may include theaccess token. At step 416, based on the identifier and the user accessinformation, the information about the user is accessed from the datastore. At step 418, based on the session information and the informationaccessed from the data store, the session established for the user isdetermined. At step 420, based on authorization of the user to accessthe resource, the user is provided at the device with access to theresource based on the determined session. At step 422, the sessioninformation is updated based on the access to the resource using thesession. At step 424, the updated session information is sent to thedevice.

In some embodiments, based on the information accessed about the user,access by the session is determined to be locked. Instead of providingthe user with access to the resource, the user may be denied at thedevice with access to the resource based on the determined session.

In some embodiments, the request at step 414 is a first request. Thesession is a first session. The device is a first device. The sessioninformation is first session information. Flowchart may includeestablishing a second session for the user to access the resource at asecond device. A response may be sent to the second device about thesecond session that is established. The response includes second sessioninformation, the identifier, and the user access information. A secondrequest may be received from the second device for access to theresource, the request including the second session information, theidentifier, and the user access information. Based on the identifier andthe user access information in the second request, the information aboutthe user may be accessed from the data store. Based on the secondsession information and the information accessed from the data store,the second session may be determined as established for the user. Basedon authorization of the user to access the resource, the user may beprovided at the second device with access to the resource based on thedetermined second session. The second session information may be updatedbased on the access to the resource using the second session. Theupdated second session information may be sent to the second device. Insome embodiments, based on the information about the user, a determineis made that access by the second session is locked. Instead ofproviding the second device with access to the resource, the user at thesecond device may be denied with access to the resource based on thedetermined second session.

In some embodiments, the request at step 414 is a first request. Theresource is a first resource. A second request by the user at the devicemay be received to access a second resource, the second requestincluding the session information, the identifier, and the user accessinformation. Based on the identifier and the user access information inthe second request, the information about the user may be accessed fromthe data store. Based on the session information and the informationaccessed from the data store, the session established for the user maybe determined. Based on authorization of the user to access the secondresource, the user at the device may be provided with access to thesecond resource based on the determined session. The session informationmay be updated based on the access to the second resource using thesession. The updated session information based on the access to thesecond resource may be sent to the second device. In some embodiments, adetermination is made that access to the second resource is based onadditional authentication of the user. The session information may beupdated for the second resource to indicate the additionalauthentication.

Flowchart 400 may end at step 426.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system 500 forimplementing an embodiment. In the illustrated embodiment, distributedsystem 500 includes one or more client computing devices 502, 504, 506,and 508, which are configured to execute and operate a clientapplication such as a web browser, proprietary client (e.g., OracleForms), or the like over one or more network(s) 510. Server 512 may becommunicatively coupled with remote client computing devices 502, 504,506, and 508 via network 510.

In various embodiments, server 512 may be adapted to run one or moreservices or software applications. In certain embodiments, server 512may also provide other services or software applications can includenon-virtual and virtual environments. In some embodiments, theseservices may be offered as web-based or cloud services or under aSoftware as a Service (SaaS) model to the users of client computingdevices 502, 504, 506, and/or 508. Users operating client computingdevices 502, 504, 506, and/or 508 may in turn utilize one or more clientapplications to interact with server 512 to utilize the servicesprovided by these components.

In the configuration depicted in FIG. 5, software components 518, 520and 522 of system 500 are shown as being implemented on server 512. Inother embodiments, one or more of the components of system 500 and/orthe services provided by these components may also be implemented by oneor more of the client computing devices 502, 504, 506, and/or 508. Usersoperating the client computing devices may then utilize one or moreclient applications to use the services provided by these components.These components may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, orcombinations thereof. It should be appreciated that various differentsystem configurations are possible, which may be different fromdistributed system 500. The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is thus oneexample of a distributed system for implementing an embodiment systemand is not intended to be limiting.

Client computing devices 502, 504, 506, and/or 508 may include varioustypes of computing systems. For example, a client computing device mayinclude portable handheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone,an iPad®, computing tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) orwearable devices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), runningsoftware such as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobileoperating systems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 10,Palm OS, and the like. The devices may support various applications suchas various Internet-related apps, e-mail, short message service (SMS)applications, and may use various other communication protocols. Theclient computing devices may also include general purpose personalcomputers including, by way of example, personal computers and/or laptopcomputers running various versions of Microsoft Windows®, AppleMacintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems. The client computing devicescan be workstation computers running any of a variety ofcommercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems, includingwithout limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operating systems, such asfor example, Google Chrome OS. Client computing devices may also includeelectronic devices such as a thin-client computer, an Internet-enabledgaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xbox gaming console with or without aKinect® gesture input device), and/or a personal messaging device,capable of communicating over network(s) 510.

Although distributed system 500 in FIG. 5 is shown with four clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices, such as devices with sensors, etc., mayinteract with server 512.

Network(s) 510 in distributed system 500 may be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of available protocols, includingwithout limitation TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internetprotocol), SNA (systems network architecture), IPX (Internet packetexchange), AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way of example, network(s)510 can be a local area network (LAN), networks based on Ethernet,Token-Ring, a wide-area network, the Internet, a virtual network, avirtual private network (VPN), an intranet, an extranet, a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), an infra-red network, a wirelessnetwork (e.g., a network operating under any of the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics (IEEE) 802.11 suite of protocols, Bluetooth®,and/or any other wireless protocol), and/or any combination of theseand/or other networks.

Server 512 may be composed of one or more general purpose computers,specialized server computers (including, by way of example, PC (personalcomputer) servers, UNIX® servers, mid-range servers, mainframecomputers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms, server clusters,or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination. Server 512 caninclude one or more virtual machines running virtual operating systems,or other computing architectures involving virtualization. One or moreflexible pools of logical storage devices can be virtualized to maintainvirtual storage devices for the server. Virtual networks can becontrolled by server 512 using software defined networking. In variousembodiments, server 512 may be adapted to run one or more services orsoftware applications described in the foregoing disclosure. Forexample, server 512 may correspond to a server for performing processingas described above according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Server 512 may run an operating system including any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially available server operating system.Server 512 may also run any of a variety of additional serverapplications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP (hypertexttransport protocol) servers, FTP (file transfer protocol) servers, CGI(common gateway interface) servers, JAVA® servers, database servers, andthe like. Exemplary database servers include without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase, IBM(International Business Machines), and the like.

In some implementations, server 512 may include one or more applicationsto analyze and consolidate data feeds and/or event updates received fromusers of client computing devices 502, 504, 506, and 508. As an example,data feeds and/or event updates may include, but are not limited to,Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates or real-time updates received from oneor more third party information sources and continuous data streams,which may include real-time events related to sensor data applications,financial tickers, network performance measuring tools (e.g., networkmonitoring and traffic management applications), clickstream analysistools, automobile traffic monitoring, and the like. Server 512 may alsoinclude one or more applications to display the data feeds and/orreal-time events via one or more display devices of client computingdevices 502, 504, 506, and 508.

Distributed system 500 may also include one or more databases 514 and516. These databases may provide a mechanism for storing informationsuch as user interactions information, usage patterns information,adaptation rules information, and other information used by embodimentsof the present disclosure. Databases 514 and 516 may reside in a varietyof locations. By way of example, one or more of databases 514 and 516may reside on a non-transitory storage medium local to (and/or residentin) server 512. Alternatively, databases 514 and 516 may be remote fromserver 512 and in communication with server 512 via a network-based ordedicated connection. In one set of embodiments, databases 514 and 516may reside in a storage-area network (SAN). Similarly, any necessaryfiles for performing the functions attributed to server 512 may bestored locally on server 512 and/or remotely, as appropriate. In one setof embodiments, databases 514 and 516 may include relational databases,such as databases provided by Oracle that are adapted to store, update,and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

In some embodiments, a cloud environment may provide one or moreservices. FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of one or more componentsof a system environment 600 in which services may be offered as cloudservices, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Inthe illustrated embodiment in FIG. 6, system environment 600 includesone or more client computing devices 604, 606, and 608 that may be usedby users to interact with a cloud infrastructure system 602 thatprovides cloud services. Cloud infrastructure system 602 may compriseone or more computers and/or servers that may include those describedabove for server 512.

It should be appreciated that cloud infrastructure system 602 depictedin FIG. 6 may have other components than those depicted. Further, theembodiment shown in FIG. 6 is only one example of a cloud infrastructuresystem that may incorporate an embodiment of the disclosure. In someother embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 602 may have more orfewer components than shown in the figure, may combine two or morecomponents, or may have a different configuration or arrangement ofcomponents.

Client computing devices 604, 606, and 608 may be devices similar tothose described above for client computing devices 502, 504, 506, and508. Client computing devices 604, 606, and 608 may be configured tooperate a client application such as a web browser, a proprietary clientapplication (e.g., Oracle Forms), or some other application, which maybe used by a user of the client computing device to interact with cloudinfrastructure system 602 to use services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 602. Although exemplary system environment 600 isshown with three client computing devices, any number of clientcomputing devices may be supported. Other devices such as devices withsensors, etc. may interact with cloud infrastructure system 602.

Network(s) 610 may facilitate communications and exchange of databetween client computing devices 604, 606, and 608 and cloudinfrastructure system 602. Each network may be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including those described above for network(s) 510.

In certain embodiments, services provided by cloud infrastructure system602 may include a host of services that are made available to users ofthe cloud infrastructure system on demand. Various other services mayalso be offered including without limitation online data storage andbackup solutions, Web-based e-mail services, hosted office suites anddocument collaboration services, database processing, managed technicalsupport services, and the like. Services provided by the cloudinfrastructure system can dynamically scale to meet the needs of itsusers.

In certain embodiments, a specific instantiation of a service providedby cloud infrastructure system 602 may be referred to herein as a“service instance.” In general, any service made available to a user viaa communication network, such as the Internet, from a cloud serviceprovider's system is referred to as a “cloud service.” Typically, in apublic cloud environment, servers and systems that make up the cloudservice provider's system are different from the customer's ownon-premises servers and systems. For example, a cloud service provider'ssystem may host an application, and a user may, via a communicationnetwork such as the Internet, on demand, order and use the application.

In some examples, a service in a computer network cloud infrastructuremay include protected computer network access to storage, a hosteddatabase, a hosted web server, a software application, or other serviceprovided by a cloud vendor to a user, or as otherwise known in the art.For example, a service can include password-protected access to remotestorage on the cloud through the Internet. As another example, a servicecan include a web service-based hosted relational database and ascript-language middleware engine for private use by a networkeddeveloper. As another example, a service can include access to an emailsoftware application hosted on a cloud vendor's web site.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 602 may include asuite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings thatare delivered to a customer in a self-service, subscription-based,elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. Anexample of such a cloud infrastructure system is the Oracle Public Cloudprovided by the present assignee.

Cloud infrastructure system 602 may also provide “big data” elatedcomputation and analysis services. The term “big data” is generally usedto refer to extremely large data sets that can be stored and manipulatedby analysts and researchers to visualize large amounts of data, detecttrends, and/or otherwise interact with the data. This big data andrelated applications can be hosted and/or manipulated by aninfrastructure system on many levels and at different scales. Tens,hundreds, or thousands of processors linked in parallel can act uponsuch data in order to present it or simulate external forces on the dataor what it represents. These data sets can involve structured data, suchas that organized in a database or otherwise according to a structuredmodel, and/or unstructured data (e.g., emails, images, data blobs(binary large objects), web pages, complex event processing). Byleveraging an ability of an embodiment to relatively quickly focus more(or fewer) computing resources upon an objective, the cloudinfrastructure system may be better available to carry out tasks onlarge data sets based on demand from a business, government agency,research organization, private individual, group of like-mindedindividuals or organizations, or other entity.

In various embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 602 may be adaptedto automatically provision, manage and track a customer's subscriptionto services offered by cloud infrastructure system 602. Cloudinfrastructure system 602 may provide the cloud services via differentdeployment models. For example, services may be provided under a publiccloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 602 is owned by anorganization selling cloud services (e.g., owned by Oracle Corporation)and the services are made available to the general public or differentindustry enterprises. As another example, services may be provided undera private cloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 602 isoperated solely for a single organization and may provide services forone or more entities within the organization. The cloud services mayalso be provided under a community cloud model in which cloudinfrastructure system 602 and the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 602 are shared by several organizations in arelated community. The cloud services may also be provided under ahybrid cloud model, which is a combination of two or more differentmodels.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 602 may include one or more services provided under Software as aService (SaaS) category, Platform as a Service (PaaS) category,Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) category, or other categories ofservices including hybrid services. A customer, via a subscriptionorder, may order one or more services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 602. Cloud infrastructure system 602 then performs processing toprovide the services in the customer's subscription order.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 602 may include, without limitation, application services,platform services and infrastructure services. In some examples,application services may be provided by the cloud infrastructure systemvia a SaaS platform. The SaaS platform may be configured to providecloud services that fall under the SaaS category. For example, the SaaSplatform may provide capabilities to build and deliver a suite ofon-demand applications on an integrated development and deploymentplatform. The SaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the SaaS services. Byutilizing the services provided by the SaaS platform, customers canutilize applications executing on the cloud infrastructure system.Customers can acquire the application services without the need forcustomers to purchase separate licenses and support. Various differentSaaS services may be provided. Examples include, without limitation,services that provide solutions for sales performance management,enterprise integration, and business flexibility for largeorganizations.

In some embodiments, platform services may be provided by cloudinfrastructure system 602 via a PaaS platform. The PaaS platform may beconfigured to provide cloud services that fall under the PaaS category.Examples of platform services may include without limitation servicesthat enable organizations (such as Oracle) to consolidate existingapplications on a shared, common architecture, as well as the ability tobuild new applications that leverage the shared services provided by theplatform. The PaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the PaaS services. Customerscan acquire the PaaS services provided by cloud infrastructure system602 without the need for customers to purchase separate licenses andsupport. Examples of platform services include, without limitation,Oracle Java Cloud Service (JCS), Oracle Database Cloud Service (DBCS),and others.

By utilizing the services provided by the PaaS platform, customers canemploy programming languages and tools supported by the cloudinfrastructure system and also control the deployed services. In someembodiments, platform services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem may include database cloud services, middleware cloud services(e.g., Oracle Fusion Middleware services), and Java cloud services. Inone embodiment, database cloud services may support shared servicedeployment models that enable organizations to pool database resourcesand offer customers a Database as a Service in the form of a databasecloud. Middleware cloud services may provide a platform for customers todevelop and deploy various business applications, and Java cloudservices may provide a platform for customers to deploy Javaapplications, in the cloud infrastructure system.

Various different infrastructure services may be provided by an IaaSplatform in the cloud infrastructure system. The infrastructure servicesfacilitate the management and control of the underlying computingresources, such as storage, networks, and other fundamental computingresources for customers utilizing services provided by the SaaS platformand the PaaS platform.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 602 may also includeinfrastructure resources 630 for providing the resources used to providevarious services to customers of the cloud infrastructure system. In oneembodiment, infrastructure resources 630 may include pre-integrated andoptimized combinations of hardware, such as servers, storage, andnetworking resources to execute the services provided by the PaaSplatform and the SaaS platform, and other resources.

In some embodiments, resources in cloud infrastructure system 602 may beshared by multiple users and dynamically re-allocated per demand.Additionally, resources may be allocated to users in different timezones. For example, cloud infrastructure system 602 may enable a firstset of users in a first time zone to utilize resources of the cloudinfrastructure system for a specified number of hours and then enablethe re-allocation of the same resources to another set of users locatedin a different time zone, thereby maximizing the utilization ofresources.

In certain embodiments, a number of internal shared services 632 may beprovided that are shared by different components or modules of cloudinfrastructure system 602 to enable provision of services by cloudinfrastructure system 602. These internal shared services may include,without limitation, a security and identity service, an integrationservice, an enterprise repository service, an enterprise managerservice, a virus scanning and white list service, a high availability,backup and recovery service, service for enabling cloud support, anemail service, a notification service, a file transfer service, and thelike.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 602 may providecomprehensive management of cloud services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, and IaaSservices) in the cloud infrastructure system. In one embodiment, cloudmanagement functionality may include capabilities for provisioning,managing and tracking a customer's subscription received by cloudinfrastructure system 602, and the like.

In one embodiment, as depicted in FIG. 6, cloud management functionalitymay be provided by one or more modules, such as an order managementmodule 620, an order orchestration module 622, an order provisioningmodule 624, an order management and monitoring module 626, and anidentity management module 628. These modules may include or be providedusing one or more computers and/or servers, which may be general purposecomputers, specialized server computers, server farms, server clusters,or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination.

In an exemplary operation, at step 634, a customer using a clientdevice, such as client computing devices 604, 606 or 608, may interactwith cloud infrastructure system 602 by requesting one or more servicesprovided by cloud infrastructure system 602 and placing an order for asubscription for one or more services offered by cloud infrastructuresystem 602. In certain embodiments, the customer may access a cloud UserInterface (UI) such as cloud UI 612, cloud UI 614 and/or cloud UI 616and place a subscription order via these UIs. The order informationreceived by cloud infrastructure system 602 in response to the customerplacing an order may include information identifying the customer andone or more services offered by the cloud infrastructure system 602 thatthe customer intends to subscribe to.

At step 636, the order information received from the customer may bestored in an order database 618. If this is a new order, a new recordmay be created for the order. In one embodiment, order database 618 canbe one of several databases operated by cloud infrastructure system 618and operated in conjunction with other system elements.

At step 638, the order information may be forwarded to an ordermanagement module 620 that may be configured to perform billing andaccounting functions related to the order, such as verifying the order,and upon verification, booking the order.

At step 640, information regarding the order may be communicated to anorder orchestration module 622 that is configured to orchestrate theprovisioning of services and resources for the order placed by thecustomer. In some instances, order orchestration module 622 may use theservices of order provisioning module 624 for the provisioning. Incertain embodiments, order orchestration module 622 enables themanagement of business processes associated with each order and appliesbusiness logic to determine whether an order should proceed toprovisioning.

As shown in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 6, at step 642, uponreceiving an order for a new subscription, order orchestration module622 sends a request to order provisioning module 624 to allocateresources and configure resources needed to fulfill the subscriptionorder. Order provisioning module 624 enables the allocation of resourcesfor the services ordered by the customer. Order provisioning module 624provides a level of abstraction between the cloud services provided bycloud infrastructure system 600 and the physical implementation layerthat is used to provision the resources for providing the requestedservices. This enables order orchestration module 622 to be isolatedfrom implementation details, such as whether or not services andresources are actually provisioned on the fly or pre-provisioned andonly allocated/assigned upon request.

At step 644, once the services and resources are provisioned, anotification may be sent to the subscribing customers indicating thatthe requested service is now ready for use. In some instance,information (e.g. a link) may be sent to the customer that enables thecustomer to start using the requested services.

At step 646, a customer's subscription order may be managed and trackedby an order management and monitoring module 626. In some instances,order management and monitoring module 626 may be configured to collectusage statistics regarding a customer use of subscribed services. Forexample, statistics may be collected for the amount of storage used, theamount data transferred, the number of users, and the amount of systemup time and system down time, and the like.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 600 may include anidentity management module 628 that is configured to provide identityservices, such as access management and authorization services in cloudinfrastructure system 600. In some embodiments, identity managementmodule 628 may control information about customers who wish to utilizethe services provided by cloud infrastructure system 602. Suchinformation can include information that authenticates the identities ofsuch customers and information that describes which actions thosecustomers are authorized to perform relative to various system resources(e.g., files, directories, applications, communication ports, memorysegments, etc.) Identity management module 628 may also include themanagement of descriptive information about each customer and about howand by whom that descriptive information can be accessed and modified.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary computer system 700 that may be used toimplement an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments,computer system 700 may be used to implement any of the various serversand computer systems described above. As shown in FIG. 7, computersystem 700 includes various subsystems including a processing unit 704that communicates with a number of peripheral subsystems via a bussubsystem 702. These peripheral subsystems may include a processingacceleration unit 706, an I/O subsystem 708, a storage subsystem 718 anda communications subsystem 724. Storage subsystem 718 may includetangible computer-readable storage media 722 and a system memory 710.

Bus subsystem 702 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 700 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 702 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 702 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard, and the like.

Processing subsystem 704 controls the operation of computer system 700and may comprise one or more processing units 732, 734, etc. Aprocessing unit may include be one or more processors, including singlecore or multicore processors, one or more cores of processors, orcombinations thereof. In some embodiments, processing subsystem 704 caninclude one or more special purpose co-processors such as graphicsprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), or the like. In someembodiments, some or all of the processing units of processing subsystem704 can be implemented using customized circuits, such as applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), or field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs).

In some embodiments, the processing units in processing subsystem 704can execute instructions stored in system memory 710 or on computerreadable storage media 722. In various embodiments, the processing unitscan execute a variety of programs or code instructions and can maintainmultiple concurrently executing programs or processes. At any giventime, some or all of the program code to be executed can be resident insystem memory 710 and/or on computer-readable storage media 722including potentially on one or more storage devices. Through suitableprogramming, processing subsystem 704 can provide variousfunctionalities disclosed herein.

In certain embodiments, a processing acceleration unit 706 may beprovided for performing customized processing or for off-loading some ofthe processing performed by processing subsystem 704 so as to acceleratethe overall processing performed by computer system 700.

I/O subsystem 708 may include devices and mechanisms for inputtinginformation to computer system 700 and/or for outputting informationfrom or via computer system 700. In general, use of the term “inputdevice” is intended to include all possible types of devices andmechanisms for inputting information to computer system 700. Userinterface input devices may include, for example, a keyboard, pointingdevices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad or touch screenincorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel, a dial, abutton, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voice commandrecognition systems, microphones, and other types of input devices. Userinterface input devices may also include motion sensing and/or gesturerecognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect® motion sensor thatenables users to control and interact with an input device, theMicrosoft Xbox® 360 game controller, devices that provide an interfacefor receiving input using gestures and spoken commands. User interfaceinput devices may also include eye gesture recognition devices such asthe Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity (e.g.,“blinking” while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection) fromusers and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voicecommands.

Other examples of user interface input devices include, withoutlimitation, three dimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks,gamepads and graphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers,digital cameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams,image scanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3Dprinters, laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices.Additionally, user interface input devices may include, for example,medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magneticresonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonographydevices. User interface input devices may also include, for example,audio input devices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instrumentsand the like.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system700 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Storage subsystem 718 provides a repository or data store for storinginformation that is used by computer system 700. Storage subsystem 718provides a tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage medium forstoring the basic programming and data constructs that provide thefunctionality of some embodiments. Software (programs, code modules,instructions) that when executed by processing subsystem 704 provide thefunctionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem 718.The software may be executed by one or more processing units ofprocessing subsystem 704. Storage subsystem 718 may also provide arepository for storing data used in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

Storage subsystem 718 may include one or more non-transitory memorydevices, including volatile and non-volatile memory devices. As shown inFIG. 7, storage subsystem 718 includes a system memory 710 and acomputer-readable storage media 722. System memory 710 may include anumber of memories including a volatile main random access memory (RAM)for storage of instructions and data during program execution and anon-volatile read only memory (ROM) or flash memory in which fixedinstructions are stored. In some implementations, a basic input/outputsystem (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transferinformation between elements within computer system 700, such as duringstart-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. The RAM typically containsdata and/or program modules that are presently being operated andexecuted by processing subsystem 704. In some implementations, systemmemory 710 may include multiple different types of memory, such asstatic random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory(DRAM).

By way of example, and not limitation, as depicted in FIG. 7, systemmemory 710 may store application programs 712, which may include clientapplications, Web browsers, mid-tier applications, relational databasemanagement systems (RDBMS), etc., program data 714, and an operatingsystem 716. By way of example, operating system 716 may include variousversions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operatingsystems, a variety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-likeoperating systems (including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linuxoperating systems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobileoperating systems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry®10 OS, and Palm® OS operating systems.

Computer-readable storage media 722 may store programming and dataconstructs that provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software(programs, code modules, instructions) that when executed by processingsubsystem 704 a processor provide the functionality described above maybe stored in storage subsystem 718. By way of example, computer-readablestorage media 722 may include non-volatile memory such as a hard diskdrive, a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive such as a CD ROM,DVD, a Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media. Computer-readable storagemedia 722 may include, but is not limited to, Zip® drives, flash memorycards, universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, secure digital (SD)cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, and the like. Computer-readablestorage media 722 may also include, solid-state drives (SSD) based onnon-volatile memory such as flash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flashdrives, solid state ROM, and the like, SSDs based on volatile memorysuch as solid state RAM, dynamic RAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs,magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, and hybrid SSDs that use a combinationof DRAM and flash memory based SSDs. Computer-readable media 722 mayprovide storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data for computer system 700.

In certain embodiments, storage subsystem 700 may also include acomputer-readable storage media reader 720 that can further be connectedto computer-readable storage media 722. Together and, optionally, incombination with system memory 710, computer-readable storage media 722may comprehensively represent remote, local, fixed, and/or removablestorage devices plus storage media for storing computer-readableinformation.

In certain embodiments, computer system 700 may provide support forexecuting one or more virtual machines. Computer system 700 may executea program such as a hypervisor for facilitating the configuring andmanaging of the virtual machines. Each virtual machine may be allocatedmemory, compute (e.g., processors, cores), I/O, and networkingresources. Each virtual machine typically runs its own operating system,which may be the same as or different from the operating systemsexecuted by other virtual machines executed by computer system 700.Accordingly, multiple operating systems may potentially be runconcurrently by computer system 700. Each virtual machine generally runsindependently of the other virtual machines.

Communications subsystem 724 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 724 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 700. For example, communications subsystem 724 mayenable computer system 700 to establish a communication channel to oneor more client computing devices via the Internet for receiving andsending information from and to the client computing devices.

Communication subsystem 724 may support both wired and/or wirelesscommunication protocols. For example, in certain embodiments,communications subsystem 724 may include radio frequency (RF)transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks(e.g., using cellular telephone technology, advanced data networktechnology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE (enhanced data rates for globalevolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 family standards, or other mobilecommunication technologies, or any combination thereof), globalpositioning system (GPS) receiver components, and/or other components.In some embodiments communications subsystem 724 can provide wirednetwork connectivity (e.g., Ethernet) in addition to or instead of awireless interface.

Communication subsystem 724 can receive and transmit data in variousforms. For example, in some embodiments, communications subsystem 724may receive input communication in the form of structured and/orunstructured data feeds 726, event streams 728, event updates 730, andthe like. For example, communications subsystem 724 may be configured toreceive (or send) data feeds 726 in real-time from users of social medianetworks and/or other communication services such as Twitter® feeds,Facebook® updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds,and/or real-time updates from one or more third party informationsources.

In certain embodiments, communications subsystem 724 may be configuredto receive data in the form of continuous data streams, which mayinclude event streams 728 of real-time events and/or event updates 730,that may be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end.Examples of applications that generate continuous data may include, forexample, sensor data applications, financial tickers, networkperformance measuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and trafficmanagement applications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 724 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 726, event streams 728, eventupdates 730, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 700.

Computer system 700 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a personal computer, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, aserver rack, or any other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 700 depicted in FIG. 7 is intended onlyas a specific example. Many other configurations having more or fewercomponents than the system depicted in FIG. 7 are possible. Based on thedisclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

Although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described,various modifications, alterations, alternative constructions, andequivalents are also encompassed within the scope of the disclosure. Themodifications include any relevant combination of the disclosedfeatures. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not restricted tooperation within certain specific data processing environments, but arefree to operate within a plurality of data processing environments.Additionally, although embodiments of the present disclosure have beendescribed using a particular series of transactions and steps, it shouldbe apparent to those skilled in the art that the scope of the presentdisclosure is not limited to the described series of transactions andsteps. Various features and aspects of the above-described embodimentsmay be used individually or jointly.

Further, while embodiments of the present disclosure have been describedusing a particular combination of hardware and software, it should berecognized that other combinations of hardware and software are alsowithin the scope of the present disclosure. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be implemented only in hardware, or only in software, orusing combinations thereof. The various processes described herein canbe implemented on the same processor or different processors in anycombination. Accordingly, where components or modules are described asbeing configured to perform certain operations, such configuration canbe accomplished, e.g., by designing electronic circuits to perform theoperation, by programming programmable electronic circuits (such asmicroprocessors) to perform the operation, or any combination thereof.Processes can communicate using a variety of techniques including butnot limited to conventional techniques for interprocess communication,and different pairs of processes may use different techniques, or thesame pair of processes may use different techniques at different times.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modificationsand changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broaderspirit and scope as set forth in the claims. Thus, although specificembodiments have been described, these are not intended to be limiting.Various modifications and equivalents are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a computersystem of an access management system, a request for access to aresource, wherein the request is received from a user operating a clientdevice; obtaining, by the computer system, user identity informationassociated with the user from an identity data store of the accessmanagement system; authenticating, by the computer system, the user toaccess the resource; using the user identity information about the userobtained from the identity data store and based on the authentication ofthe user for access to the resource, establishing, by the computersystem, a session for the user to access the resource, wherein theestablishing the session comprises: generating session information forthe session, wherein the session information includes: (i) commonattributes, and (ii) specific attributes, the common attributes includeuser access information that is shared between sessions, and thespecific attributes include information that changes between sessions,and wherein the session information includes one or more of: a list ofpartners accessed in session, an Internet protocol (IP) address of theclient device, an authentication level of the session, an authenticationscheme of the session, an authentication timestamp of the session, orapplication domain information for one or more accessed resources usingthe session; storing the common attributes in a data store of the accessmanagement system, wherein the data store is implemented as a cacheaccessible in a distributed manner to the access management system, andthe common attributes are stored associated with an identifier in thecache; and sending an access claim to the client device for the sessionthat is established, wherein the access claim includes the specificattributes and the identifier for the common attributes; receiving, atthe computing system, from the user operating the client device, anotherrequest for access to another resource, wherein the another requestincludes the access claim; accessing, from the data store, based on theidentifier, the common attributes for the session; determining, based onthe specific attributes received in the access claim and the commonattributes accessed from the data store, the session established for theuser; based on authorization of the user to access the another resource,providing, by the computer system, the user with access to the anotherresource using the determined session; updating, by the computer system,the session information including the specific attributes for thesession based on the access to the another resource using the session;and sending, by the computer system, the access claim to the clientdevice for the session that is established, wherein the access claimincludes the updated specific attributes and the identifier for thecommon attributes.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the access claim isa pre-defined response from the computing system that includes: (i) aportion of the session information including the specific attributes,and (ii) the identifier for the common attributes.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the pre-defined response further includes an accesstoken, and wherein the another request for access to the anotherresource includes the access token sent in the response to the clientdevice.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the pre-defined responsefurther includes a domain name of the user.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: based on the information accessed about the user,determining that access by the session is locked; and denying the userat the device with access to the resource based on the determinedsession.
 6. A system comprising: one or more processors; and a memoryaccessible to the one or more processors, the memory storing one or moreinstructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, causesthe one or more processors to: receive a request for access to aresource, wherein the request is received from a user operating a clientdevice; obtain user identity information associated with the user froman identity data store of an access management system; authenticate theuser to access the resource; using the user identity information aboutthe user obtained from the identity data store and based on theauthentication of the user for access to the resource, establish, by theaccess management system, a session for the user to access the resource,wherein the establishing the session comprises: generating sessioninformation for the session, wherein the session information includes:(i) common attributes, and (ii) specific attributes, the commonattributes include user access information that is shared betweensessions, and the specific attributes include information that changesbetween sessions, and wherein the session information includes one ormore of: a list of partners accessed in session, an Internet protocol(IP) address of the client device, an authentication level of thesession, an authentication scheme of the session, an authenticationtimestamp of the session, or application domain information for one ormore accessed resources using the session; storing the common attributesin a data store of the access management system, wherein the data storeis implemented as a cache accessible in a distributed manner to theaccess management system, and the common attributes are storedassociated with an identifier in the cache; and sending an access claimto the client device for the session that is established, wherein theaccess claim includes the specific attributes and the identifier for thecommon attributes; receive, from the user operating the client device,another request for access to a another resource, wherein the anotherrequest includes the access claim; access, from the data store, based onthe identifier, the common attributes for the session; determine, basedon the specific attributes received in the access claim and the commonattributes accessed from the data store, the session established for theuser; based on authorization of the user to access the another resource,provide the user with access to the another resource using thedetermined session; update the session information including thespecific attributes for the session based on the access to the anotherresource using the session; and send the access claim to the clientdevice for the session that is established, wherein the access claimincludes the updated specific attributes and the identifier for thecommon attributes.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the access claim isa pre-defined response from the computing system that includes: (i) aportion of the session information including the specific attributes,and (ii) the identifier for the common attributes.
 8. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the pre-defined response further includes an accesstoken, and wherein the another request for access to the anotherresource includes the access token sent in the response to the clientdevice.
 9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or moreinstructions that, upon execution by one or more processors, causes theone or more processors to: receive a request for access to a resource,wherein the request is received from a user operating a client device;obtain user identity information associated with the user from anidentity data store of an access management system; authenticate theuser to access the resource; using the user identity information aboutthe user obtained from the identity data store and based on theauthentication of the user for access to the resource, establish, by theaccess management system, a session for the user to access the resource,wherein the establishing the session comprises: generating sessioninformation for the session, wherein the session information includes:(i) common attributes, and (ii) specific attributes, the commonattributes include user access information that is shared betweensessions, and the specific attributes include information that changesbetween sessions, and wherein the session information includes one ormore of: a list of partners accessed in session, an Internet protocol(IP) address of the client device, an authentication level of thesession, an authentication scheme of the session, an authenticationtimestamp of the session, or application domain information for one ormore accessed resources using the session; storing the common attributesin a data store of the access management system, wherein the data storeis implemented as a cache accessible in a distributed manner to theaccess management system, and the common attributes are storedassociated with an identifier in the cache; and sending an access claimto the client device for the session that is established, wherein theaccess claim includes the specific attributes and the identifier for thecommon attributes; receive, from the user operating the client device,another request for access to a another resource, wherein the anotherrequest includes the access claim; access, from the data store, based onthe identifier, the common attributes for the session; determine, basedon the specific attributes received in the access claim and the commonattributes accessed from the data store, the session established for theuser; based on authorization of the user to access the another resource,provide the user with access to the another resource using thedetermined session; update the session information including thespecific attributes for the session based on the access to the anotherresource using the session; and send the access claim to the clientdevice for the session that is established, wherein the access claimincludes the updated specific attributes and the identifier for thecommon attributes.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the access claim is a pre-defined response from thecomputing system that includes: (i) a portion of the session informationincluding the specific attributes, and (ii) the identifier for thecommon attributes.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 10, wherein the pre-defined response further includes an accesstoken, and wherein the another request for access to the anotherresource includes the access token sent in the response to the clientdevice.